Automatic door lock



Feb. 6, 1940.- .H. WILSON 2,189,748

AUTOMATIC noon LOCK Filed Nov. 7, 1936 Fig.1.

Speedomafer- Confra/ Q h 0 n N if Han/c Wf/S on BY j ma ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 6, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,189,748 AUTOMATIC noon. LOCK Harvey'Wilson, Gainesville, Ga. v Application November 7,1936, Serial No. 109,635

5 Claims.

My invention relates to door locks, and more particularly automatic door locks for automobiles, actuated in accordance with the speed of the automobile.

In the priorart it has generally been the practice to depend upon the spring latches of the individual doors for maintaining them in closed position. However, because of some extraordinary strain on the car the doors very often swing to open position when the car is making a curve permitting the occupants to fall from the car and be injured. Again small children riding in the automobile play with the handles ofthe door and release the spring latch permitting them to fall out and be injured. And finally due to improper closing, doors swing open and are torn from the body of the car, and simply because the spring latch hasnot properly seated or caught. r

. This problem has been recognized to exist in the prior art and it has been attempted to overcome its ill effects. The patent to Nelson 1,639,747 represents such an attempt, where a piston operated by the vacuum or compression in the engine serves to close the door whenever the engine of the car is running and maintains the door closed as long as the engine runs. This makes it necessary to cut off the engine-every timea passenger wishes to get in or out of the automobile, or to check the speed of the eng e to a point where the door may be forced open against the force of the piston. The necessity for stopping the engine each time the doors are opened is obviously a great disadvantage and need not be discussed at length, likewise it is disagreeable to add additional force for opening the door.

In the patent to Roberts, 2,031,281, a means for locking the doors of a car, and actuated by the gear shift lever when in third or high gear is shown. In this as in the above patent to Nelson the locking means are entirely separate and apart from the door latches themselves and have no cooperation with them. The use of the ocldng means actuated by the gear shift lever makes it necessary to move the gear shift lever from high or third gear before either the doors could be opened or closed. Fln'thermore the car cannot be left on a slight rise and in that gear to prevent movement, for the doors cannot be closed. Nor would it be possible to open the door \when the car is running very slowly in high gear.

And while it has been suggested in the prior M art that'the speedometer could possibly be used for automatically cutting off the ignition when the car reached a certain speed, it, has never been suggested that such a feature could also be employed in combination with certain other means to lock the doors of the car when it 5 reached that predetermined speed.

Sleight, 1,538,009, shows a combination employing the speedometer for cutting 03 the engine or ignition thereto when the automobile has reached a certain speed. This is done by 10 breaking the circuit. The patent to Meile, 1,516,615, shows a similar .combination for accomplishing the same result, and only differing in the function the switch, operated by the speedometer, plays. Neither of these patents, 18 however, suggests any control means for the doors, or how such a result could be accomplished employing the speedometer as a control means.

Applicant with a knowledge of all of the defects in and objections to the prior art has for 20 an object of his invention the provision of a system forlocking the doorsof an automobile when it has reached a certain predetermined speed and to release the locking mechanism when the speed falls below that point.

Applicant has for a further object of his inventlon the provision of a system for locking the doors of a car when a certain predetermined speed has been reached, and which acts upon the spring latches of the doors.

Applicant has as va further object of his invention the provision of a system for locking the doors of an automobile and actuated by a lock on one of the doors, and released by turning the lock to unlocked position. I

Applicant has] as a still further object of his invention the provision of a system for locking the doors of a car when 'a certain predetermined speed has been-reached and for releasing the look when the speed of the car falls below that 0 point, and for looking all of the doors of the car when the.lock in one of the doors is turned to closed position.

Otherv objects and advantages will appear in the following specification relative to my inven- 5 tion, and the novel features of my invention will be particularly pointed out in the annexed claims.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a detail of the system for locking a door, applied to a single door latch. Figure 2 is'diagrammatic sketch of the 50 system employed by applicant. Figure 3 is a detail of the lock actuating means.

Referring to the drawing in detail I is a speedometer of the conventional type, 2 is a housing in which the gears for operating the relays which look the individual door latches are disposed. The shaft 3 leads from the speedometer I into the housing 2 and has gear 4 mounted thereon. Shaft 5 leads to the pickup gear, generally mounted on a wheel of the automobile and serves as the operating means for the speedometer. Gear 6 is rotatably mounted on shaft I3 and is driven by gear 4. A governor 1, 8, 9 is secured to gear 6 and turns with it. In and I2 are col- ,lars secured to the governor and turn with it,

and member having a cam surface, is rotatably mounted on said collars, and to reduce the friction therebetween'roller bearing races may be employed to separate the member N therefrom. Contacts l4 and I5 are operated by engagement with the cam surface of member I6 is a shaft upon which contacts I4 and I5 are mounted by means of insulated washers l8, l9 and the contacts |4, |5 may consist of stiff metal strips or any other appropriate means. The position of the contacts is changed by moving or rotating the screw threaded disc |1 against spring which is located on the opposite side of the insulated washers, is disposed about the shaft I6, and pushes the washer against the disc l1. A battery 3| operates a solenoid 28 through contacts 29, which are insulated appropriately from a soft iron shell which is mounted on a soft metal casing 2| adapted to provide a path of low reluctance for flux. 21 is a plunger normally held out of engagement with finger 25 by a spring 4|, but a collar is provided on plunger 21 to limit its movement by the spring. The latch finger 25 has a groove in one sidefor the reception of plunger 21 and is normally actuated by spring 28 to a position under bracket 22, groove strips 24 guiding the finger 25 into position, and arm 23 acting in'the usual way to release the finger and remove it from beneath the bracket.

In Figure 2 the windings of the solenoids are designated by 42, 43, 44 which are in parallel with winding 28 and in series with the lock actuating means 31 and the automatic speedometer actuating means I, which are themselves in parallel. The free ends are then connected across a battery 3|. Each one of the solenoids represents or corresponds to a car door. However if there is only two'doors then there would only be two solenoids. And while these solenoids are shown in parallel relation with each other, they could be placed in series relation and still operate.

The lock of Figure 3 may be positioned at any convenient place on the car but preferably is seated in one of the doors as is the usual practice. The key 35 seats in the shell of the lock 36 and a cam 31 is rotated with the key to close the contacts 38, 38 at the appropriate position.

23 and easily moves back and forth. a

As the speed of movement of the car increases, the shaft 3 and its gear 4 moves at a greater rate and in turn rotates gear 6 at an increased speed. The acceleration of the gear 6 and the attached balls 9 creates centrifugal force causing the balls 8 to tend to move out or apart according to the ancient law of motion, and in a well known manner. The movement of the balls causes the collars I0 and I2 to move up the shaft l3 carrying the member II with them, engaging contact 5 and closing the contacts l5, l4, and the further movement of the member upwardly maintains the contacts |4, I5 closed.

The closing of these contacts closes the circuit including battery 3| and windings 28, and the windings of solenoids 42, 43, 44, energizes them and causes the plunger 21 to move into groove of finger 25 and prevents the release of finger 25 or its movement from behind bracket 22. This looks all of the doors and prevents their being opened until the solenoids are deenergized. As the movement of the vehicle falls below a certain predetermined speed, the weight of balls 8 force them back down carrying the collar l0, l2 and the member II with them, and release contacts |4, |5, opening the circuit of battery 3| and the solenoids. This permits spring 4| to return plunger 21 to release position and to leave finger 25 to move freely under the influence of spring 26 and arm 23.

When the passengers leave the car and wish to lock it the only thing necessary is to insert key 35 in look 35 and turn-it so that the cam 31 will close contacts 38, 39. This closes the circuit including battery 3| and the windings of solenoids 28, 42, 43, 44, causes the plungers to seat in their respective fingers and look all of the doors at the same time. When the car has been locked and it is wished to release the doors, the key 35 is inserted, turned so that cam 31 is rotated and separation of the contacts 38, 38 is permitted. This again opens the circuit and releases the plungers leaving the fingers free to move in response to their handles. A switch may be in- .serted in the circuit of Figure 2, preferably in either of the battery leads; however it may with effect be placed in other places in the circuit.

By the use of the disc H the speed at which the solenoids will be operated can be readily changed. This moves the contacts l4, l5 up and down to different positions.

Considering the circuit of Figure 2, when the speedometer operating mechanism or control is actuated it closes a circuit therein permitting current to flow from battery 3| therethrough to the windings of the various solenoids 28, 42, 43, 44, connected in parallel, and back to the battery. During this time the operation of lock 31 is prevented and it plays no part therein. When the cam 31 on the lock is operated it closes a circuit which also leads from battery II to these solenoids and back to the battery, causing them to operate.

While this type of actuating means is employed in the speedometer, it is recognized that this is merely representative of what could be used, and it is of course impossible to disclose and dis:- cuss all of the forms of control means which could be used in connection with the speedometer for this purpose. And it is further expressly recognized that other forms could be used and still be within the scope of applicant's invention.

It is also recognized that it may be desirable to use other forms of lock means for closing the circuit for locking the doors than that disclosed and still be within the spirit of applicants invention.

Having thus described my invention, claim:

1. A combination of the character described comprising a solenoid for locking thedoor of a vehicle, a source of electrical energy, a circuit connecting said source to said solenoid, and a control means in said circuit and responsive to movement of said vehicle at and above a certain predetermined speed for completing and maintaining said circuit to actuate said solenoid for locking said door and maintaining it locked.

2. A combination of the character described comprising means for locking a door of a vehicle,

' a source of energy for said locking means, and

a speedometer operated control means connected with said source of energy and responsive to movement of the speedometer driving mechanism for connecting said source of energy to said 1ock-. ing means at and above a predetermined vehicle speed and maintaining the connection, whereby to lock said door.

3. A combination of the character described comprising a latch for an automobile door, means cooperating with said latch when in latched position to lock it, a source of energy for said latch cooperating means, and control means responsive to the movement of the automobile at and above a certain predetermined speed for connecting said source of energy with said latch cooperating means and maintaining said connection whilesaid automobile remains above said predeterminedspeed whereby to lock the door, and secure it in locked position. I v

4. A combination or the character described comprising a latch for an automobile door, electrically operated means for cooperating with said latch for locking it against movement, a source of electrical energy'for said latch cooperating means, and a control means responsive to movement of the automobile at and above a certain predetermined speed for completing and maintaining the circuit between said source and said cooperating means whereby to lock the door, and secure it in locked position.

5..A combination of the character described comprising a latch for an automobile door, means cooperating with said latch when in latched position to lock it, a source of energy for said latch cooperating means, and control means responsive to the movement of the automobile at and above a certain predetermined speed for connecting said source of energy with said latch cooperating means and maintaining said connection while said automobile remains above said predetermined speed whereby to lock the door, and secure it in locked position, and manually operated means independent of said control means for connecting said source of energy to said locking means, for independently locking said door.

HARVEY WILSON. 

